The Magician
by WindRyder1
Summary: Yosuke awoke his Persona, but what happened after he accepted his shadow? What would an interaction between Person and Persona be like? Is talking to yourself a bad thing? So here it is through the point of view of the first Social Link. (Sister story from Yu's point of view on 'The Wild Card.")
1. The Magician

***Author's Note* To the Persona 4 fans. I hadn't found a fic that described what Yosuke went through after the defeat of his Shadow, regarding the existence of Jiraiya. It was something I was curious about, so instead of waiting for someone else to write up something, much like learning to embroider, I'm going to do it myself. This is Yosuke-centric. Parts may be added later as I get more ideas with interactions among the Investigation Team, because I'm sure they're all experiencing something very similar.**

**This is the first fan fic I've written in...dear lord, it's been years, so I may be a bit rusty. I'll go back to working on my Fictionpress story "Gravity," now. ENJOY!**

* * *

**THE MAGICIAN**

The card spun lazily at eye level.

He stared at it with a mix of shock, fear, and curiosity, enthralled by the miasma of blue energy drifting around it like the very fog that filled this studio.

'_It's just a tarot card_,' he assured himself.

It was just a harmless card, a simple tool for fortune tellers at festivals to give the expected answers to the curious and financially fool-hearty. He never believed in that sort of magic before, although the wonder-filled boy he used to be constantly urged him to try. The shaded blue front with its yin-yang mask winked at him through every turn. It looked exactly like the one his new friend recently came to possess. The only difference was the back. Whoever designed it had painted two gloved hands reaching up toward a mysterious flame and secret eyes beneath the Infinity symbol. Below the artwork rested the number "1" and the word "Magician." As if he could be something as awesome as Merlin. The thought was laughable. Maybe not so much if he could bench press his weight in bacon. That would be cool.

Then there was the power that came with his friend's card. That power had emerged from the other when their lives were threatened. It flowed out of him like water, obeyed his commands, and mirrored his movements. Yet his friend reeled in pain as though he'd been personally attacked every time the manifestation took a hit. The energy transmitted to him, which meant it was connected to him through an unbreakable cord. He had called this giant ethereal samurai 'Izanagi' - his Persona. That guy could easily bench press his weight in bacon.

This new card thrummed with the energetic promise of the same potential, but at a price.

Accepting the words of the Shadow born from his heart was easier said than done. The fact that anything could come from 'his heart' was ridiculous, bordering on crazy if anyone had told him about such a thing before he fell into the world of Crazy complete with a colorful –albeit frantic and loud—thing calling itself a bear. His headphones were perfect for ignoring the world and everything it said or did to him. He was just a regular teenager from a regular boring dimension where this sort of thing only happened on T.V. in reruns of the 'Twilight Zone.'

How ironic.

Terror and disbelief had stolen his strength when the Shadow first showed itself, and he'd collapsed to the floor. The Shadow professed things he would never repeat out loud in his life. It stripped his emotions and his psyche raw, ripped apart the barriers he'd built over the years to protect himself from reality. It threw him into the fire, exposed, screaming, and begging for the verbal evisceration to end. The words of hurt, selfishness, greed, and malcontent brought him to his knees. This wasn't him. He couldn't live with himself if that monster was his true self. If anyone knew his mind had entertained these thoughts, he'd be ashamed beyond reason to show his ugly mug in public again. He was a pain in the ass failure for everything he'd ever tried, and to everyone he'd ever known.

Then, when he was sure it would end him, his friend had literally knocked him back to reason.

Now he faced the slowly spinning tarot card because he had accepted –albeit painfully—that the Shadow had spoken the truth. Yes, at times he used the headphones to escape. He couldn't fully trust or love anyone for fear of losing them simply because of the way he was. So he joked and he laughed. He wanted to be a hero to the point of being reckless and selfish…

But he also loved the one he'd come to save enough to put his own life in jeopardy. His shadow may have magnified the negativity ink-staining his personality, but his friend pointed out that his loyalty, and feelings were no less true or valid. Sure he joked, but the atmosphere weighed less on those around him because of him. People were more complex than a simple black and white label. Both the darkness, the gray, and the light of his own soul _was_ the full truth. All of it was _Him_.

He reached out to take the card in hand.

As soon as his fingers touched it, it dissolved as though it were a cube of sugar in a glass of water. The cerulean energy billowed around him briefly with such strength that he couldn't exhale. It seeped into his skin painlessly. He felt it ride the lines of his veins in his arms and legs, his chest, and spread out through his entire body like warm water from head to toe. His mind filled with the same buzzing energy as though he'd taken hold of a live wire. He could feel it stirring, shifting, 'waking up,' with the same sensation one gets with being shaken from a deep sleep.

He slumped forward slightly from a headache when everything the energy contained wove its threads tightly into his consciousness. _I am thou. And thou art I. _He knew that voice as his own, but this held the mellifluous timber of wisdom that assured him he wasn't just thinking those words. They came from somewhere else. Knowledge of what it was capable of flowed gently from the bond into his awareness, like a gift. He heard the sound of the wind rustling through leaves, and he smiled slightly. That was always a sound he loved. Feeling the wind's fingers comb through his hair never ceased to give him some semblance of joy. He always wished he could fly along its perfect chaotic freedom into the sky.

What gave him this sensation now was powerful, strong, and when it finally settled down, he felt complete. Some part of him always knew something was hibernating—at least that's how he imagined it. Yet, he'd always assumed it was his lack of a girlfriend, or never being taken seriously no matter how hard he tried to show the 'serious' face. It was impossible to fathom living without this presence. He wondered how he'd managed to make it this long without ever knowing what he was missing.

It was alive. It shared his heart beat. It breathed when he breathed. It moved when he moved. It was a part of him, yet a separate protective entity fully willing to share his mind. To say the least, it was weird, but comforting. It spoke a single, clear, unmistakable name.

"Jiraiya…" He turned a slight accepting smirk to Yu Narukami. "This must be my…"

"Persona," Yu finished.

Yosuke Hanamura nodded, keeping that smile. His Persona. So it was.

"I'm exhausted." He exhaled. Everything he'd experienced happened within the span of a few moments, though it felt like a day. "Dammit. It hurts to face yourself."

* * *

_A few days later..._

"I know you're there. I can feel you." Yosuke stared unblinking at his reflection in the mirror, trying to look past his brown irises into his own head. "C'mon, dude. You said your name once, plus that whole '_I am thou_' bit, so drop the act and say something already."

Silence.

"I _will_ summon you."

More silence.

"Don't think I won't do it, man."

He got the impression that wouldn't work outside the T.V world anyway.

"This is stupid," he murmured. "There's nothing there. A Persona is just another aspect of a whole personality. I asked Yukiko-chan. She looked it up in some psychology book. It's not some weird body sharing alien thing. And now I've bought a ticket to crazy town and I'm talking to myself. Joy." The words should have been comforting, but ever since he got back from the T.V world, his own reaction to things had been slightly off. He wondered if any of the others did the same thing.

He shut off the bathroom light and left the house to get his bike from the garage. It was easy this time since the space his parents' car normally occupied was empty. He planted his left foot on the pedal, pushed the bike, and threw his right leg over to sit on the saddle. "Woo!" he grinned. He'd never been able to pull that off before without falling over. What else had changed? Maybe there was something to this 'Persona' thing after all.

He pumped his legs to get the bike going down the street. Once up to speed, he let go of the handlebars and put his arms out to the side. He smiled at the crisp morning wind on his face like he owned it, like he commanded it. The moment was thrilling, though it didn't last long before he had to steer the bike around a delivery truck in the shopping district. He flew. And he didn't crash. A Hanamura record!

Today was going to be a spectacular day.

* * *

_Late that night after the Midnight Channel and a call to Narukami about Princess Yukiko and her lacy unmentionables... Hot damn…_

Yosuke had passed out cold on his bed, deep in a dream.

He rode his bike along a smooth black road in the green hills, enjoying the cool breeze when a figure appeared ahead of him. He pulled the trigger brakes on his handle bars to stop. "Seriously, man? Right in the middle of the road?" he whined. The figure became clear as he approached. "Oh, no way…. Wait a minute, you're—"

"You said you wanted me to talk, so what do you want?"

He just stared at Jiraiya, who –funny enough—didn't look like the disco frog that kicked Shadow ass in the Television. It looked like Yosuke himself, only wearing camo pants, black gloves, a white shirt, red scarf, his headphones, and a confident swagger. "J-Jiraiya?" He'd never thought speaking to his Persona was possible before. He only entertained the idea because, why not?

"Bright, aren't we." He folded his arms.

"Oh, man, I gotta be dreaming."

"You are. Why do you think I'm here? It's a hell of a lot easier to get through to you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Those little twinges you get when you're about to say something stupid, or make the wrong decision? Who do you think does that, genius?"

"My inner cricket, ya douche."

Jiraiya grinned. "That's the me I love. So, whadda you want?"

Yosuke shrugged and dismounted the bicycle. "I dunno. Just to... talk, I guess. That last battle with Chie's Shadow was awesome, but I think I sprained something when I tackled her. Thanks for deflecting, though, dude."

"It's my job. Someone has to protect your ass."

"That last hit majorly hurt, though."

"Yeah, it did. I'm still getting used to that."

"Eh? What do you mean? I thought it went one way."

"eenh! Wrong, super dweeb. "

"So, if I get hurt, kicked, punched, trash canned, or even really hungry…?"

"I feel it. Because I am you, remember?" Jiraiya folded his arms with a deadpan expression and twirled one finger languidly in the air with as much enthusiasm as reading the dictionary. "Woo."

More than a little uncomfortable, Yosuke kicked the stand down to prop up his bike and folded his arms in the same stance as his doppelganger. "Tell me: Why do you look like a giant amphibious reincarnation of Saturday Night Fever?"

The other laughed. "Ah, you would know about that show. I remember watching reruns as a kid from one of the American stations. Thank God, I never tried to dance in front of anyone."

"I was four. And you're evading."

"I think it has something to do with that," Jiraiya gestured to a well that materialized in the road behind Yosuke.

Curious, and not even questioning the logic of an ancient well in the middle of an asphalt road, the brunette stepped up, glanced back to his Persona, and pushed the wooden bucket aside to look into the darkness. He strained to see into the black, and leaned over for a better look, but felt someone grab the belt of his pants when his balance faltered.

His twin pulled him back. "Bro, really, bad idea."

"Duh, dooffus, I was trying to see. There's nothing down there. Not even water."

"Wait for it…" Jiraiya crooned.

The echo of a frog croaked up from the well.

Yosuke slid the bucket from the stones and lowered it into the darkness. Something rattled it. Unafraid, he pulled on the rope against the squeaky pulley to bring it back up. What he found inside was a small green river frog. He reached in to pick it up. It was slimy and cold to the touch.

"Oh-kay…It's…a frog. I don't get it. You've lost me," he turned back to Jiraiya with the frog cupped in both hands.

"Not a difficult task, apparently. That," he pointed at the small animal, "is how you see yourself. You can see the sky, hear the wind, and even smell the grass of sweet freedom, but you see yourself as trapped. Inaba is your well, the city was your well, and even your family is your well. And you, my friend, are the frog. Hence you get 'me.' …Although I think there _is_ some John Travolta bleed through from those reruns."

Yosuke opened his hands to look at the frog. His Persona was right. He saw Inaba as a trap, but he hadn't expected to hear the same about his old home or family. He crouched down and opened his hands. The frog stayed on his palm, stared at him with it pulsing bulbous throat, then hopped off into the grass at the road side.

"Does that answer your question?"

He stood. "Yeah. More than I wanted, actually."

"Cool. O.k, I'm out. See ya."

"Wait!" Yosuke grabbed the other's wrist. Jiraiya turned identical brown eyes to him. It was definitely a second covered in weird surrealism. For a split second, he thought touching his Persona would cause a Back To The Future-esque paradox that would destroy the fabric of space time itself.

Jiraiya chuckled at the logic in Yosuke's thought, and actually thought the idea was cool in a science fiction way. They were, after all, the same person. And whether his human half wanted to admit it or not, he was a nerd.

"Can you talk to me while I'm awake?"

"Yup."

"Why don't you?" He let go.

"Think about that question for a second. Do you really want to be talking to yourself in public? If you wear a blue tooth at school, you'll go from Major Dork, to Yuppie Dork in 2.5 seconds."

"Point valid. Ok, then what about the others? Can they hear their Persona? Are they going through what we're doing right now? Can you hear each other?"

A lawn chair appeared out of nowhere, and Jiraiya reclined happily to watch an ocean that replaced the hills. "Let's see….. yes, most definitely, and… I haven't tried."

Yosuke grinned. "Then try tomorrow at school. It'll distract me from King Moron's lectures."

"Something to do while you drool on your notebook? Sure. You really wanna go this route?"

"Why not? If I'm gonna go nuts, I might as well go balls deep."

"Dude. Don't ever say that again."

Yosuke leaned against his bike, which stayed up despite the weight. "Tomorrow it is. You are going to try to talk to Izanagi or Tomoe. Then if the others can hear you, I won't be alone in my box of Crazy."

"Your alarm's about to go off."

"Eh?"

The grating buzzer shattered the dream world and snapped Yosuke back to his room. He slapped his hand on the 'snooze' button and rolled over with a mischievous smile. Time for school.

And time to test a theory.

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That's it for now! I really needed to get my impression of the Personal/Human interaction out. I hope whoever reads this finds a little bit of enjoyment. Review if you want.


	2. In Theory

***Author's Note* Thanks for the reviews, guys. I wasn't sure how something like this would be received, and so far I'm liking the fact that it threw some of you off. I'm glad you're enjoying it. A friend told me they liked what I'd done with the Persona/Human interaction, and wanted to see one more part added. So, here it is. **

**Thanks for the reviews, and thank you to everyone who clicked to read this. :)**

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**In Theory...**

_Yasogami High School. 2__nd__ year Science room. 3rd Period just before lunch._

"So many chemicals, so little time," Yosuke mused as he poured a small amount of weak hydrochloric acid back and forth between two beakers at his work station in the middle of the room.

Yu casually slid their shared beaker of crystal growth to his other side away from the danger. That lattice would finish growing next week, and he didn't need a 'C' on this project because of clumsy hands.

"Where did you get that?" Chie eyed the mad scientist.

"It was left in the cupboard under our work station from last week's litmus test sample. Don't worry, I don't think this stuff explodes. I wonder what this orange stuff does to it? Let's try it and find out."

"Stop it before you get us in trouble," she hissed. "We can't be stuck in detention if we're going to rescue Yukiko. Or did you forget?" Clearly she wanted to claw her way to the castle that appeared on the Midnight Channel last night instead of being stuck in the dregs of Academia while her best friend suffered.

"No one forgot, Satonaka-chan. We're going to Junes after school." Yu soothed. "Hanamura?"

"Yup, we're going to have fun storming the castle." Yet Yu's stare only held a glimmer of humor at the movie reference joke. He rolled his eyes. "What are you guys, my parents? Fine." He obliged and replaced the beakers where he'd found them. "What are we doing today, anyway?"

"I'm glad you asked," a lilting feminine voice drifted across the room. It commanded the attention of every student and silenced every conversation. Mrs. Senkawa set the wooden milk crate she was carrying on the teacher's desk near the Bunson Burner, and adjusted the loose bun of blond hair at the nape of her neck.

Though she was an American married to Mr. Senkawa who taught First Year English, she spoke fluent Japanese in the most beautiful musical tone Yosuke had the pleasure of hearing. He understood a lot of English thanks to his parent's insistence that he learn the language of international trade, but couldn't for the life of him get that damned letter "L" to roll off his tongue correctly. It was pure evil. Whoever invented that letter was a sadist who relished in the west's bizarre sentence and grammar structure. Still, Daphne Senkawa could be talking about grocery lists and bunions in her native language for all he cared. He could listen to her speak forever even if he didn't understand a word she said.

"I've got a surprise for you today, class. We're not going to be studying chemical reactions. I've put that off until next week when your crystals have grown past stage two and we can move on to stage three. In the mean time, I'd like you to get up close and personal with your next project." She pulled a tray out of the box and set it on the counter for the class to see. "We're going to be dissecting and studying the anatomy of the _Lithobates catesbeianus. _Otherwise known as the common Bullfrog. Ichijo, Daisuke, will you please help me pass these out to the class?"

The teens removed trays from the crate, and placed them at the workstations. Since each station held three students, each student had their own set of tools secured neatly to the trays. The girls squirmed in disgust, some threatening to not even touch the tray, though some of the boys dove right in to poking their given specimens with the eraser ends of their pencils.

"Ugh. That's disgusting," Chie unwrapped her tools as Mrs. Senkawa began drawing diagrams on the board of what her students should be looking for, and directing them to the correct page in their biology books. "On second thought, maybe it's good Yukiko isn't here. This would freak her out for sure."

Yosuke stared uncomfortably at the spread-eagle dead frog as though he'd been handed a giant cockroach and ordered to take a bite from its ass.

"Alright, class. Remove your tools carefully." She picked up the small kit from the example tray. "Take the scalpel in hand, index finger supporting the top, and cut very carefully along the upper left abdomen. I know, it's nasty, but, make sure you log in everything." She moved into the midst of her students to help the queasy ones get started, and to answer questions.

Yosuke glanced behind him to the trio already getting started on their frogs. He saw Daisuke eye the contents of his tray with his game face, daring it to fight back, and pressed the scalpel to the frog's belly. His stomach began to knot when one of the girls squealed in disgust across the room.

"Is this the bladder?" He heard one of his peers say,

"No, that's its liver, you idiot. See? The diagram shows it here," corrected the student's partner.

"There will be a test, so make sure you follow the diagram closely." Mrs. Senkawa moved from desk to desk. "Nice incision, Ichijo. Very good. Don't forget to use the pins to hold the skin out of your way. Yes, I know it's disgusting. Science is sometimes messy," she chuckled to keep the atmosphere as warm as she could.

It worked for everyone except the middle student at table number five. Every work station suddenly became the medical laboratory of Dr. Frankenstein.

Yosuke began to sweat from a fast growing apprehension that prickled in his chest and chased the tail end of panic. The air thickened to the point where he may as well have been breathing through a cloth. He'd dissected earth worms before at his old school in the city, and remembered making jokes about it with his friends. It hadn't bothered him at all. Because of his lab partner's compulsive note taking to everything he'd said, they got an "A" on that assignment.

This should be no different. All he had to do was press the anxiety down and get this over with. So why did he feel like he was about to cut into something that still had a heart beat? His hand trembled as he picked up the sharp tool. It hovered over the exposed belly-up, formaldehyde soaked body of the dead amphibian. He unsteadily pressed the blade to the point where Mrs. Senkawa indicated the first cut should be made. He pushed down slightly. A tiny rivulet of cloudy fluid dribbled from the cut.

_STOP! I CAN'T TAKE IT! HOLY SHIT, MAN, STOP! STOP!_

The blade clattered to the metal tray as the scream of horror drove its nails through his entire body. His skin paled and his stomach lurched. He was going to see his breakfast soon if he didn't run away now.

"Ah! I can't do this!" Yosuke covered his mouth and bolted out of the classroom to the objection of the teacher.

"Uh oh, spew city," Kimiko commented from next to Ichijo.

"It's just a frog," came Daisuke's attempt to justify the moment.

"What's with him?" Chie looked up from her note book.

Yu calmly set his pencil down next to his tray. "Chie-san, do you remember what his Persona looks like?"

"I—" Her eyes widened from the slap of realization. "Oh my god, how horrible! I didn't even think … Oh, I feel terrible."

He sighed. "I'd better not leave him be." Yu stood and bowed lightly to the teacher since everyone's attention had followed the panicked escape. "I'll get him, Mrs. Senkawa." He left, heading for the men's room.

Yosuke slammed through the first open stall he could find in the bathroom, lifted the lid of the toilet, and had a full recount of everything he'd eaten that day, including his mid morning snack of Edamame. If anyone was in there, they were getting the full experience. 'Dude, gross,' he heard someone say as they made a hasty retreat.

He flushed and sat back on the cold tile floor against the stall's open door, breathing heavily. Why of all times in his life did his science teacher choose today to bring in her little Island of Dr. Moreau?

"_Now_ you say something during Metaphore Torture." He ran his hands through his hair and swallowed past the lump in his throat. If his heart could race any faster, it would explode. Counting to ten sometimes worked, so he tried it several times to no avail. Images from last night's dream kept flashing through his mind.

_Dammit, settle down, already. _He thought._ This is science. Every class has to do this, you know that. You've heard stories for years, you knew this was coming, so just freakin' quit acting like a loser and man-up. _

He went to the sink and splashed water on his face. It didn't help. "I need some air." He left the bathroom, ran right past Narukami without bothering to head any motion to stop, and climbed the stairs that lead to the rooftop. He needed to be where the wind could carry this whole travesty of a situation far, far away.

Yu had followed his friend and watched him pace sharply back and forth near the benches at the fence line. "Are you alright?"

Yosuke looked over at the silver-haired student, though did not stop moving. "Yeah, yeah, I …no, no I'm not. I know it's just a frog, and I keep trying to calm down, but I can't. I just can't do this, and I won't go back into that class." He took a deep breath and cut his hand through the air toward the door leading inside the building. "I can't dissect that frog. It's me! I can't gut myself and take notes! It's just wrong on so many levels, that they're inventing a new level for this to be even more wrong on!"

Yu moved closer and shoved his hands in his pockets. Despite Yosuke's animated motions, he remained the opposite. He'd learned quickly that this was how their friendship worked. Yosuke kept him from going too deeply into himself, and he kept the other grounded. Still, something urged him to move forward until the other's pacing space had diminished. "I understand where you're coming from."

"You do? Of course you do," he chuckled like an over caffeinated coffee addict and clutched tufts of hair in his fists. Who better to understand his predicament than the one he'd first entered the t.v. world with? Narukami had, after all, saved his life. Now was as good a time as any to test his Persona theory, and to find out if his friend was drinking from the same kool-aid he was. "This is gonna sound more awkward than a binge eater at a weight loss clinic, but…I-I think it's ...I think it's Jiraiya."

Yu waited for an elaboration before speaking.

"Last night, I had this dream where I talked to him, and there was this frog in a well, and the frog was me, so I let it go, and…"

"You talked to him? That's possible?"

He sighed. "Yes. I'd tried all morning through King Moron's boring lecture to get some kind of reaction, but got nothing until..." he began pacing again. "Dude, I'm freaking out here. Why would Mrs. Senkawa even think this was a good idea? It's just sick, and now I'm going to fail because I can't tell her why. I just wanna take off running."

Yu's hand flashed out before he had a chance to question why and gripped his friend's wrist. The other stopped. He could see the objection forming before it was drowned out by a deep, familiar voice that carried his own vocal inflection. It pushed forward from the depths of his mind and reached through the physical contact to the consciousness on the other end—to Yosuke's soul. It tingled like mild carpet shock at the contact point.

_Calm yourself, Jiraiya._ The command filled the space between them as though someone were standing there.

Yosuke's eyes widened as he stared, unnerved, at Yu's face. His peer's mouth didn't move, but the words continued.

_You are causing unrest. _

This time, it was Yu who mirrored that confusion when he heard an unexpected response, though neither boy spoke.

_I have good reason. _

_There is no need for this reaction. Calm yourself. _

_You and your damn logic. Fine. One...two...three... _

Yosuke jerked away in shock and stepped back. Without the added power to amplify the connection, his Persona's counting faded away. "Wh-what the hell, man?! I heard that!" He peered at his friend curiously the same way he'd studied his own eyes in the mirror searching for his Persona. "No way that was…Izanagi?"

Nodding in response felt easier now that his friend had confirmed details about his own Persona. He was sure that anything said from this point on would not be instantly judged or mocked. He was still new to Inaba, and his status as 'outcast' was still very much in place. "I got the feeling that it would help. Did it work?"

"Well," he paused as his breathing slowed to normal, as did his heart rate. Whatever happened, Jiraiya had listened." Yeah. Wow," he sat down on a stone bench. "I guess this answers my theory about our Persona being able to talk to each other. Did you hear anything?"

"If you're referring to the voice that sounded a lot like yours saying, 'You and your damn logic,' then yes."

A snorted snerk escaped Yosuke before he could stop it.

"Interesting. It must require physical contact." Yu hummed in thought as he analyzed this logic.

"Whoa, ok, I draw the line at hand holding. So, for any future conversations, say… fist bump?"

"Works for me."

"There you two are," Chie's cut into the conversation. "You've been gone for fifteen minutes. I'd thought he'd fallen in, or something." She frowned slightly in concern. "Are you o.k?"

"Yup, no problems here anymore. Hey, Chie-chan, you're not gonna believe this. Check this out." He got up and –ignoring the warning that approaching the Queen of Kung Fu was dangerous to one's health—embraced the shorter brunette.

"What the—You perv!" Chie landed a knee into his gut.

Yosuke dropped to the ground in a coughing fit. "I was," he wheezed, "just testing… a theory. Ow, critical hit to the spleen."

"What theory of yours involves groping?"

"My hands were in the safety zone." he shot back.

"He was trying to see if your Persona could communicate. But he did it in a definitively Hanamura fashion."

"Huh?" Chie cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Communicate? "I've only ever heard 'I am thou. And thou art I' from her along with her name. A Persona is part of a whole personality, not a separate person or anything. Tomoe doesn't talk to me, and she's a part of me."

"If she's like Jiraiya," Yosuke grimaced, "she's deliberately not talking to you on purpose."

"Evidently, it requires contact for all parties involved to be heard," Yu stated mater-of-factly. "Thanks to his theory, I now know why Izanagi remained silent until now. It's kind of a relief."

"As long as she helps me kick some Shadow butt tonight to rescue Yukiko, Tomoe can stay as silent, or as vocal as she wants." Chie folded her arms. "You could have just taken my hand, Hanamura,"

"Apology," he coughed and got to his feet, "accepted." He knew that was the best he would get out of her, so he learned to take what he could get and move on. He took a deep breath. "At least we know we're insane together."

Chie checked her watch. "Class is almost over. We're going to have to do a make-up test now," she groaned. One more test on their already packed school schedule was not what she needed, especially in light of Inaba's murders and her best friend's appearance on the Midnight Channel.

"I'll take a hundred make-up tests as long as I never have to dissect another frog again for as long as I live."

"We can study together," Yu offered.

"After we get Yukiko back." Chie set her jaw in complete resolution.

The other two nodded in agreement and the three headed down to the cafeteria.

"So," Yosuke began, "We can test this theory again now if you wa-"

She slid him the danger eyes.

"Or, later is fine."

* * *

**So, there is it. Wasn't sure what to do beyond this point, but I'm having fun with it. Thanks again to everyone who found the time to read. :) **

***note* AtsukoSchulyer's review put the "what if" idea into my head of what it might be like for the Wild Card. I thought about it yesterday, and at-you guessed it-2am yesterday morning, got an idea. So, I've been writing out some bare bones to see how it could possibly work. This idea is asking to be a daunting challenge requiring lots of time and energy, not to mention research on all of Narukami's Persona. Lets see if it can be done well. **

**Oh, I should probably mention that this is character study for Yosuke. I'm going to cosplay as him for Anime Expo 13 this year. Do you think I've managed to grasp the character through this fic? As a performer, it helps to know what I need to improve on. Thanks again! **


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